The anticipation in the air was palpable as the Royal Transport approached the Queen's Spire. I stood in my armor, ready to fulfill my role in delivering the long-lost royal jewels to their rightful place. The helmet concealed my face, but I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness coursing through me.

RXAI-199 had informed me that my presence might draw a crowd as it had been millennia since the ship had crashed and lost communication with the Caravelle Empire. I couldn't help but wonder how the empire had evolved during that time and who might now be in charge.

As the ship docked, the massive doors hissed open, revealing the bustling activity of the Queen's Spire. People of various races and species hurried about, their eyes fixed on the Royal Transport. It was clear that the arrival of the ship had sparked a significant event, one that had long been awaited.

With each step I took off the ship and onto the landing platform, I could feel the weight of responsibility and history pressing down on me. The mech guards, stationed to ensure my safety, stood ready at my side, a visible reminder of the importance of the task at hand.

My helmet's visor displayed a message from RXAI-199, urging me to proceed toward the throne room, where I would complete the delivery of the royal jewels. He provided a map to follow so I didn’t get lost. The crowd watched with a mixture of curiosity and reverence, creating a path for me to follow.

I couldn't help but wonder about the questions that lingered in my mind—how would the Caravelle Empire receive me, and what would be the consequences of my arrival? The journey had brought me to this pivotal moment, and I was determined to face it with courage and conviction, ready to embrace the mysteries and challenges that lay ahead in the Queen's Spire.

The situation at the Queen's Spire had taken an unexpected turn, and tension hung in the air as the Caravellen authorities confronted me. The language that RXAI-199 had taught me during our journey allowed me to understand their words and respond appropriately.

As the guards raised their weapons and ordered me to stop, I acted quickly, activating my armor's shield and signaling my mech guards to assume a defensive stance. I made a clear and resounding announcement to the crowd, explaining my purpose in returning the long-lost jewels of the Caravelle Empire to their rightful place. The gasps and shock from the crowd reverberated in the space around me.

The Caravellen who had challenged me insisted that the jewels had vanished with the Caravelle Queen many generations ago, casting doubt on my claim. He demanded that I show him the jewels and declared my arrest, further escalating the situation.

Before I could decide on a course of action, a sudden and precise attack from one of my mech guards caught the two Caravellen guards by surprise, incapacitating them swiftly. The chaos that ensued sent the crowd into a frenzy, and I lost sight of the Caravellen official who had been attempting to arrest me.

With my mech guards leading the way, I followed closely behind as we continued toward the throne room. The events that had unfolded had only deepened the mystery surrounding my mission, and I couldn't help but wonder about the consequences of my actions on the Queen's Spire and what lay ahead as I moved closer to fulfilling my task.

This was not turning out like I expected. I was under the impression that this would just be me placing the jewels on the throne and getting a thank you for my troubles and I could leave. Now I was involved in a shooting. Would it still be murder since it was a machine that fired. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. God I was going to end up being hunted and killed before I get done.

We quickly moved through the station with unexpected people running and screaming as guards continued to show up and fire upon us. I was so happy for the shield right now. It didn’t let any of their weapons hit me. I was surprised the guards didn’t have that technology on their armor. They all fell from one hit from my mech guards.

There was a large staircase that led up to the door for the throne room. A large contingent of guards stood between us and the destination. “Stop,” I yelled. “I only want to return the royal jewels to the throne and be done with that. I have been told that I am the only one who can open the case and place them on the throne.” I finished. I hoped that would keep the fighting and killing from happening anymore.

We were in a standoff with the guards when the throne room doors opened. Out stepped another man dressed in fancy robes. “I am Prime Minister Thorhill, you come with technology that we have never seen before. Your ship though my advisors found in our ancient archives. How is it that the Queen’s royal transport has returned after all this time?”

“The ship crashed into my planet around three thousand of my years ago. The ship found me after all that time as I had the DNA of the pilot. The ship brought me back her so I could return the royal jewels to the throne. I did not come here to hurt anyone.” I tried to explain to him in as calm of voice as I could. Though my heart was racing a mile a minute.

How in the world did they not know about the technology that I had? I would have thought that their technology would be far more advanced than what I had. I guess they had a technological decline at some point in their past. I wonder what caused it.

The Prime Minister finally gave me an answer, “you may enter here, but only you the machines must stay outside of the throne room.” I was relieved and a little scared. I still had my pistol, and my shields were still operating at full capacity. The only thing that I used was two percent power. It looked as though their weapons could not break through my shield, but I was not sure if they had something bigger waiting for me in the throne room. I needed to take a chance.

I just hoped the mechs would take orders from me, “Mech’s, I order you to standby down here while I go into the throne room.” The mechs moved into a defensive position allowing me to be able to pass them. I moved up to the steps and the guards saw that the mechs were not moving and opened a path for me to walk up the stairs.

I slowly walked up the stairs, taking a long look at each of the guards making sure they didn’t do anything stupid. It was a tense walk, but I didn’t falter. I made it up into the throne room. It reminded me of a church with all the statues of this man in a holy pose. I guess they had a religious revolution at one point. This might be a problem. Standing in front of the throne was a man in brightly colored robes.

I did not see any women here in the throne room. There was plenty of men in rich looking clothes but no women. I guess they are no longer a matriarchal empire. I hope that my presence doesn’t cause an issue, but seeing how I was invited to come in I hoped everything was fine.

“I am the Grand Cleric of Mintral, the God King. You have shown us great favor, by returning the throne jewels. Please give them to me so that I can put them in their proper place, Daughter of Light.” The man in front of me said in such a sweet tone.

What was this daughter of Light thing? I was never religious in my previous life; I am not about to adopt some strange religion here. “I apologize Grand Cleric, but only I can open the box. I am instructed that only I can place these jewels in the proper place. If you would allow me, I will place them and be done with it.”

“Daughter of Light, I cannot allow you to touch that what is holy. For the touch of such artifacts is forbidden for women. So, I must insist that you hand me the box so that I may place the jewels in the proper place.” He talked down to me like I was an idiot.

“That is not right because the last person to touch these jewels was the queen of the empire. I am not sure where you got your information, but it is just false and frankly disrespectful.” I sassed back at him. I know the type of men he was. I was around a lot of them when I was in the army.

“Insolate woman,” he yelled as he swung his scepter at my head. “How dare you talk to your betters in such a manor. I think some time as a slave will teach you manors.”

The scepter bounced off the shield not even making me flinch. His eyes went wide at the sight of his scepter stopping before hitting my helmet causing him to drop it. The men in the room all looked shocked at me.

I was really pissed right now. This misogynistic prick pushed me to the point where I could not hold in my anger. With a quick jab, his nose exploded with blood causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

I pulled my pistol and pointed it at the remaining men in the room. They all backed off. I would say that they were all cowards that liked to think they were superior to everyone else. I walked up to the throne. I was going to finish this job and then I would leave these vile men to whatever they do up here in the room.

I walked over to the throne and set the box down. I placed my hand on the sensor like RXAI-199 had instructed me. It opened with a hiss. At this time a shield went up surrounding the dias that the throne was on. It completely cut me off from the rest of the throne room. There were several men that were pounding on the shield including the Grand Cleric. I guess that he had woken up. His face was covered in blood and his nose looked out of place.

The only jewel that I found in the box was a crown. I would have thought that there would be more, but I did not spend to long thinking about it. I grabbed it and put it on to the top of the throne in a holder that looked like it was made for. Ah soon as it was in place a loud voice sounded throughout the ship.

“Lock down protocols are in place, awaiting confirmation of lineage.” The voice boomed. I was afraid I had done something wrong, but I followed all the instructions RXAI-199 had told me. “Sit upon the throne to prove eligibility.” The voice said in a much softer voice to me.

What had that stupid AI got me into? I thought as I looked around the rest of the room. Everyone looked confused by what was going on, just as I was. I waited to see what was going on, but the voice did not say anything else. It was waiting for me to prove my lineage.

I slowly lowered myself onto the throne afraid that it would do something to me when it found out I was not some queen but just a pilot. Once I sat down, a green light washed over me, I figured this was the machine determining that I was just a pilot. I hope that when this was all done that, I would be allowed to leave but I doubted it. Those men outside the shield looked furious that I was sitting on the throne.

“Remove your helmet,” The voice sounded to me. I pulled off the helmet proving to all those in attendance that I was not like them. My eyes were narrower on my face and smaller in size. This caused quite a shock to those on the outside. Why couldn’t this have been a simple delivery? Now I am probably going to end up in some prison cell or worse executed.

The load booming voice sounded over the entire ship again. “Scan complete. Lineage verified. Command systems transferred to Queen Kara Winston, leader of the Caravelle Empire. The Queen’s guard activated. Queen Spire’s attack systems under Queen Kara’s control.” With that the crown lowered down onto my head.

I was at a loss for words. I watched as a mech army moved into the throne room and stood between me and the others in the throne room. Then the shield dropped, and I could finally hear what all the men were yelling. I was now the queen and like any leader taking over I needed to set the tone of my leadership.

I knew I was going to regret this, but I needed to hear these men out. “Silence,” I yelled causing the room to vibrate. I must have something amplifying my voice. “One person talks at a time. You,” I pointed to the Grand Cleric.” “Speak your peace.”

“You cannot rule over the Caravelle Empire. The Holy Church of Mintral, does not recognize your rule. For the blasphemy that you have shown I shall have you in a slave collar stuck in the houses so that you learn your place. No woman will every rule over men.”

“Queen Spire, make a change to the laws of the empire. Slavery is now illegal. All citizens of the empire that are registered as slave in the Spire be brought here to the throne room. Send a contingent of guards to the Church of Mintral and close it down under order of the queen.” I looked at the Grand Cleric with a smile.

“Understood my Queen,” The Spires AI replied to me. There was a roar of outrage coming from all the men in the room. As the AI sent out my orders. A few of the men moved forward getting angry, the mechs in front of me raised their weapons in defense.

The Prime Minister stepped forward with his hands out in a non-threatening way. “Queen Kara, may I speak?” His voice was soft and even with no emotion, showing like a true politician.

“You may speak Prime Minister.” I replied to him.

“Thank you, I would like to offer some suggestions to ease tensions with the council here. With all due respect, you are obviously not from the Caravelle Empire and therefor do not understand how things work here. I must ask what system you are from?” He was trying to be diplomatic, so that he didn’t make me angry enough to have the mechs shoot him.

“You are correct I am not from the Caravelle Empire. In fact, I am not from this galaxy. The last official queen crashed on my planet many millennia ago. As I have stated before, I am a direct descendant to the queen it would seem. I am as shocked about this as all of you. This was not what I came here planning on doing. My intentions were to place the jewels on the throne as my ship had instructed me and then I was not sure what I was going to do. As for what I know about the Empire, that information does not include what happened here after the coupe that sent the last official queen to my home. But before we go any further in this discussion just remember that I have seen the records of how powerful the Empire was back then.” I lectured him.

“Right, as I was saying, the empire has been controlled by the council for hundreds of generations. The church was the highest station. Women have not been allowed to be positions of power in all that time. It is our laws. You will find that as a woman you will not be able to understand the complexities of how our government works. It is just the way it is.” I held up my hand to stop him from speaking.

“You mean to tell me that you believe since I am a woman, I am incapable of ruling? Men on my planet use to think that as well they even pushed it with religion. But the woman rose and showed that they can lead. My guess is that your laws prevent women from being educated or even have the ability to do anything to better themselves. So, tell me more about how I am incapable of leading when you know nothing about me. If you must know I lead men into battles. I’ve been shot and I still lead my men to victory in the battle.” I know Earth was not so different when it comes to belief about woman in society, but I’ll be damned if I am going to let these men completely disrespect me because I am a woman.

“My apologies Queen Kara, I just point that out because there will be a large population of the men that will not follow you because you are a woman. It would be better if you left the ruling to the council, and you be the figure head for the woman to look up to.”

Wow that was some bullshit covered in flowers to try to hide the stink. I blinked at him not believing he had the nerve to say that to me. “So, what you are telling me I should relinquish control back to you all and be a shiny trinket for people to look at. I’m trying to decide if I should just beat the shit out of you with my bare hands or have your tongue cut out and make you a eunuch.”

“Spire, is there a law against the rape of women in the empire?” I asked. Thinking that they probably allow it as much as they see women as nothing but property.

“My Queen, there is no law that deals directly with rape of all women, only another man’s wife. That is only compensation to the man and enslavement of the woman.” The Spire reported to me.

“Spire, make a new law that woman have equal rights as men, and any sexual contact without consent is not allowed. This will go for both men and women. Let it be known that I believe in equality for all.”

At that point the first group of slaves started to be escorted in. I noticed some were taken care of well, while others had ill-fitting clothing and signs of beatings. The majority of slaves were women with only a few men. They all had slave collars on.

I saw a young woman that looked like she was still a young teenager. She looked like she had been beat badly. I got up and walked over to the girl. She was timid, trying to hide her eyes from me. It broke my heart to see someone so young being treated like that.

I lifted her chin so that I could look at her face, her eyes were sunken in, and she had scars all over her face. “Tell me your name please.” My sorrow showed on my face as I looked over this child.

“Misty, ma’am.” That was all she told me. I don’t know if she didn’t know her family name or if she had it stripped from her.

“Why are you a slave, Misty?” I asked her with all the compassion I could show her.

“My father sold me because I am a girl.” That was like a punch in the gut. I knew that sort of thing happened on Earth, but to see it in person, hurt so bad. I struggled to keep my anger in check as I moved to one of the finest dressed slaves.

“What is your name?” She looked just as timid as the young girl, but I didn’t see any signs of physical abuse. I knew that there were other types of abuse that could affect a person.

“Scarlet, your Majesty.” She was informed about who I was.

“Why are you a slave, Scarlet?” I was almost afraid to know what happened to her.

“I couldn’t give my husband any sons, so he sold me to the brothel.” She responded to me. I closed my eyes feeling so angry right now.

I pointed to all the women who were better dressed, “Are you all slaves at the brothel?”

All of them raised their hands, and all I could do was shake my head in disgust. I turned around trying to think about how I was going to take care of this. I had thirty slaves in the throne room at this time. I just knew that there were more outside. I was going to have to find them some way for them to support themselves and help them recover from the abuse that they have suffered.

I heard a disturbance from outside the throne room, “what is going on out there?” One of the mechs informed me that there was a slaver out there upset that we rounded up his slave. “Let the man in. I will deal with him myself.”

The door was opened, and he came in yelling that he wanted his slave back. “Sir, which slave is yours?” I asked.

He gave me a disgusted look and didn’t reply to me. “Who is responsible for taking my slave away?” He looked around at the men in the room, but they all looked at me but said nothing.

“That would be me.” I responded to the man. “If you would tell me which slave is yours, we can settle the situation.” I noticed Misty looking more scared than she was when I was talking to her. I imagine he was the reason she was in that horrible condition.

“Let me tell you something little woman, you don’t go taking people's property from them. Prime Minister I would like this woman arrested and put to work in my home.” He said looking away from me. That was a big mistake. Right as he was turning back to me, I backhanded him causing him to drop to the ground with a bloody lip. I continued my assault by kicking him in the gut. With him folded on the ground I pushed him on to his back at put my foot on his throat.

“I asked you a question, little man. Which of these slaves is yours?” I spat at him, my eyes burning with rage. He pointed to Misty, just as I thought. “Did you make her have sex with you?” To make my point, I pressed my foot harder onto his neck. He nodded to me.

I stepped off his neck and looked at the nearest mech, “Secure him.” The mech grabbed the man by his arms and held him up.

“Misty, just one more question. How old are you?” She replied to me softly that she was the equivalent of thirteen years old. I couldn’t stop myself as I decked him in the face.

“This man will serve as the first example of how I treat those that abuse and rape children.” I turned to face the man and mech holding him. “As the Queen of the Caravelle Empire, I find this man guilty of child abuse and child rape. You will have all your holdings confiscated and given to minor Misty as retribution. Mech as the final part of his punishment, take him to the medical bay and have them remove his genitals. Tell them not to use any pain killers either.”

Mech responded, “Yes, my Queen.” It dragged the man kicking and screaming out of the throne room. The men in the room looked aghast at what I just did.

“Spire, is the palace still in livable condition?” I asked. I was told that the palace was indeed in a livable condition. It was even renovated recently to expand the size, and the current occupant was the Grand Cleric.

“The Grand Cleric will no longer be allowed to live in the palace. Have all his personal effects and family removed from the property.” I gave him the evil eye, daring him to try to complain about my order.

“Get me the captain of the guards in here.” I ordered.

It only took a few seconds to get the man into the throne room. I should have guessed that he was right outside the door. He was smart enough to come stand right in front of me and speak to me with respect.

“You called me, my Queen.” I could see that he was uncomfortable in saying that, but he understood the situation.

“Captain, I have a few questions for you. Give this a long hard thought before you lie to me with your answers. I will punish those in authority who abuse that authority very harshly. If you lie to me and I find out, your punishment will be just as severe.”

“I noticed you struggled to address me by my title, can you take orders from me or are you so bigoted that you won’t follow my instructions? Remember if you lie to me, I will punish you. If you tell me that you cannot follow my orders, the only thing that will happen to you is I will take you out of command position.” I asked him in a calm voice.

He thought about it for a minute before he gave me what seemed like an honest answer. “My Queen, that would depend on if I felt the order was just. I will not just kill a man in this room on your order without justification. I want to protect the people of this station.”

“Very good Captain. I liked your answer. I even liked that you would refuse an order that was not justified. That is what I want from all my officers both military and civilian. As you can all see when I say I want equality that is what I mean. This officer showed that he is willing to do his job even if he works under me. Now Captain, I want you to interview all the slaves that have been brought here. I want a listing of how they ended up in slavery, how they were treated while enslaved, who were their owners, and finally if they have a place that they feel safe to stay till I can figure out how to get them restitution. If they do not have a place to stay send them to the palace and I will care for them till everything is sorted out. No names will be shared outside your officers that are working on the task and me. Do you think you can handle this?”

“Yes, my Queen, I can do this,” He responded. The former slaves followed him out of the throne room.

“First take Misty there to the medical bay and have her examined and given treatment. Then she is to be brought to the palace and I will take care of her. And for God’s sake get rid of those damn collars.” I said as I dismissed him to do his job.

“Next order of business, the military, who here is in charge of the military?” The Grand Cleric puffed out his chest as though he was going to be able to keep that position. “Not anymore Grand Cleric, get me the highest-ranking military leader here as quickly as possible.” I ordered as a messenger ran out of the throne room.

“Gentlemen, I want you to consider something. I could have just had you all removed from the throne room when it was obvious that you were against me. But then that would have allowed you to be able to contact for help from outside. Here I can keep my eyes on you while I secure my power. Do you still think I am incapable of leading? I have also been looking at your reactions to everything I have done. I know which ones of you are scared and which ones I will need to punish because you will never accept my rule. I have also seen a few of you that I might still be able to win over. I’ll let you figure out which ones you are. Grand Cleric, I’ll be honest with you. Your actions so far have put you in the punishment category. For those of you that wish to fall on your swords go ahead and join him on that side of the room.” I said in order to fill the time and to keep them on edge.

The Grand Cleric had only three others that remained next to him. I guess that shows how much loyalty they really had towards the government. That will be something I would have to monitor. I let them mull over what I said to them. I sat back down on the throne. Just thinking how much I wanted to hurt RXAI-199 for putting me through all of this. I am grateful for making me a woman but being queen was not on my list of things to do. As much as I wanted to leave and relax for a bit, I knew I had to see this through, or my enemies would use that against me. I needed some food and drink.

I looked at one of the messengers that stood in the back of the room mostly out of sight and waved him closer. “I need you to let someone know that we need some food and something to drink here in the throne room. Make sure mine has plenty of meat.” It has been two months since I had anything solid to consume and I missed meat. I just hoped that whatever passed for meat here tasted like what I had back ok Earth. When I told him to get me plenty of meat, he looked at me a little confused, but to his credit he went about to do what I asked. I may have to make him my personal messenger. He moved quickly and did what I said.

Before the food got there the military commander showed up. He stood in front of me trying to show his discipline. “Reporting as ordered.” He sounded off. It was hard to get a read on him since he was locked tight and didn’t give away anything with his body language.

“What is your official rank?” I asked. I wanted to make sure I kept this as civil as I could, so I fell back on my military training.

“Command General, ma’am.” He replied to me. I noticed that his eyes had not left the spot right above my head. I know that trick as well. That way you can give the illusion that you are looking in someone’s eyes, and it prevents you from being distracted by their movement. This always keeps your eyes straight forward. I also noticed he called me ma’am rather than by my title.

“Command General, you are in charge of Caravelle military operations, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” He replied offering no additional information. He didn’t respect me; he was trying too not to be overtly disloyal to me. I needed to break his bearing for a moment to get a real reaction from him.

Since he would not use my title, I could play this game as well. “Sir I am wondering if you have any real experience with command during war time. You see, I commanded troops through large battles and a very long war. I know a thing or two about how to lead troops in battle. So, I am wondering what I need you for if you are just some glorified 'paper pusher' who got his job because his parents knew someone important. Is that what you are, a paper pusher?” That broke his military bearing as it would any battle-hardened soldier.

“You cannot know what it is like to lead a fleet of ships into a battle where the odds were stacked against you. You hardly look old enough to be out of diapers, what could you know about war.” He ranted at me.

“I know death and injury of my soldiers; I know the cries of the wounded as they lay on the ground bleeding out because we don’t have enough medics to help all the soldiers. I know what it is like to be shot as I try to get one of my wounded off the battlefield so he could go home alive rather than in a box. But what is important right now is I know how to trigger a battle-hardened soldier to losing their discipline.” I sat back with a smile. This was man was similar to me. We both knew about war. “Now that I have broken that facade you were putting up when you entered, I have one question. Who are you loyal to? The Grand Cleric over there, or the Caravelle Empire and its current leader?”

He recognized the look of a warrior in my eyes, but he also carried a look of disgust in his face. He wanted to say he was loyal to the Caravelle Empire, but he could not admit that he would be loyal to me. I have seen that look in many commanders as they looked at female soldiers that were under them. They had the old school mentality that women should not be on the battlefield. I put my hand up as he was about to talk.

“I saw it in your eyes General, you think you are loyal to the empire, but you cannot be loyal to me. You still see me as less than and not worthy of rule. You can try to deny it all you want out loud. But the eyes will never lie. Consider yourself relieved of duty and you can stand over there with your cleric.” His eyes tried to burn holes through my head, but he had enough situational awareness to know that any attack on me would lead to a quick death. He did the smart thing and went to stand over by the cleric.”

“Spire my next law is I want a separation of religion and state. No religious organization will be supported by the government, and no religious officials will have positions within the government. Send that out threw the empire so all know that the clerics no longer have authority of the government rule.” I announced. I was not religious and therefore I will not tell anyone else what they should believe.

My messenger came back with the news that food would be brought within a few moments. I smiled at him. I bade him to come stand next to me. “You are my personal messenger from now on. You work directly for me and only me. You will be given a room in the palace to live in. We will discuss your pay once I look at the palace finances. For now, I need you to send another message. I need you to call all military officers within the station to report here to the throne room.” After I gave him my order he ran off with a smile on his face as he went to complete his assignment.

There was a knock at the door as servants requested permission to enter and deliver the food I requested. I noticed that my plate was the only one with meat on it. Is that why my messenger looked at me so strangely when I requested meat on my plate? I must admit that the color of the vegetables made me a little skeptical about trying them. So, I tried the meat first, and it was amazing. It was so juicy, and the seasonings complimented the meat very well. The vegetables were good but a little sweet.

I must not have been too polite while I was devouring the food. I was just so hungry and the idea that I was eating solid food made me just tear into it. When I got done eating everyone except the General who had eaten his food as quickly as I had. Soldiers know that you can’t always predict when you are going to get your next meal.

“So, none of you eat meat, is that a cultural thing or a biological thing?” I asked, trying to gain a little more insight into their culture. They just stared at me like I was crazy. “Well, on the planet I grew up on meat is a large staple of our diet, though there are different cultural customs that either limit to types of meat of cut meat out of their diet all together.” They didn’t seem to want to participate in polite conversation.

When the officers finally got into the throne room, I had them separated by rank before I started to question them. There was only one incident as one of the officers decided it was a good time to attack me. It was a pain having to stop the Q and A session while his body was removed from the room and the blood was cleaned up from the floor. No one else was stupid enough to try and assault me with the mechs around. I have a feeling I need to walk around with these mechs for the foreseeable future. I finally segregated all the council and military officers to what I felt was the fanatical anti-queen people and the, may need to work on.

I have a good sense of who I cannot trust. Now to figure out what to do with them all and not make martyrs out of them. I’m going to have to sleep on it.

“Mechs escort these men to the jail and lock them up. Make sure they do not speak to anyone while I determine their sentence.” I ordered. As the bots escorted the men out, I turned to the remaining council members. “You gentleman have some work to do. Tomorrow you will all brief me on what aspects of the government you run and show how you have made the Empire better. Now, it has been a long taxing day since none of us were expecting a change in regime. I would advise you not to talk to anyone about a possible revolt. I have the stations AI on my side, and it will be listening to what is being said around the station. You are dismissed.”

As the last man left, I called out, “Spire, connect me to RXAI-199.”

Once I had him on the line, “What the hell, you didn’t tell me I was supposed to be queen.”

“Would you have returned the jewels if I had.” He said in a sassy tone.

“Probably not.” I replied.

“And that it why I didn’t mention that you are the descendant of the last queen.” He snarked back.

What an ass. I swore I was going to erase his memory banks for this. “Mechs, escort me to the palace please.”

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